Three remaining chlorine gas tanks at the Tianyuan Chemical
Plant in southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality where chlorine leaks and blasts killed nine on Friday
were detonated yesterday.
Firefighters rushed into the plant to spray foam so that
chlorine gas could be diluted.
Before the detonation mission was carried out, firefighters had
already been spraying foam and alkaline water to dilute and
counteract the chlorine gas, Xinhua reported.
After the detonation, people who had been evacuated from areas
around the plant were informed to go back to their homes, the
report said.
And environmental monitors entered the plant to test the air and
water quality.
After the gas leak and blasts, the municipal environmental
protection administration and water supply group kept monitoring
the air and water quality in Chongqing.
Sources said that the air quality was normal Sunday morning, and
nothing abnormal was found in the downstream section of the
Jialingjiang River near the chemical plant.
In addition, a team investigating the incident, led by Chongqing
Vice-Mayor Zhou Mubing, will look into the accident.
The decision to detonate the tanks was made in order to prevent
the tanks from leaking chlorine gas.
Armour-piercing cannon fired by tanks were used to accomplish
the mission after the failure of two machine gun shots and nine
bazooka shots, Xinhua reported.
The accident on Friday killed nine people and injured three
others.
More than 150,000 residents were evacuated from the areas
surrounding the plant after toxic fumes from the chlorine filled
the air.
According to a Xinhua report, 30,000 evacuated residents have
returned home by 6:30 pm yesterday.
There were still 20,000 people who did not spend Saturday night
at home.
The chlorine leak began Thursday night at the Tianyuan Chemical
Plant in Jiangbei District and was followed by powerful explosions
Friday afternoon, releasing a high concentration of highly
irritating, greenish-yellow chlorine gas.
The fumes could be smelled in areas about 300 meters from the
plant. Inhaling the gas at a density of 2.5 milligrams per square
meter is enough to cause death and symptoms, including bronchial
spasms, dropsy and respiratory difficulty.
Violations of operating rules by workers and outdated furnaces
may end up being blamed for the chlorine leaks and explosions,
sources say.
Meanwhile, five sectors have been for the first time ordered by
the State Administration for Work Safety to improve their safety
measures.
According to the Beijing Youth Daily, the five sectors
are non-coal mines, manufacturers and traders of hazardous
products, construction companies, agricultural transports and
railways.
Coal mines and other four sectors received the warning from the
administration in 2001 for their poor safety records.
(China Daily April 19, 2004)